Maaleesh!

Maaleesh!

I went for a hair-cut this morning. There was the usual Sunday rush. After a short wait I was offered a seat by the barber.
'Short, I want it real short.' I told him. So he went to work and within fifteen minutes he got me looking like a porcupine in heat. Well, I asked for it! Just when I thought it was over, he asked me, 'Maaleesh?'
Maaleesh is Hindi for massage. In this context it was head massage. I thought over it for a few seconds and said, 'ok.'
He pointed at a few bottles and asked me to choose; I chose a strawberry coloured oil. He applied a palmful to my scalp and started 'maaleeshing'. After a few minutes of 'tap-rub-squeeze' my scalp, he yanked out a funny looking machine and strapped it to his palm. It was a vibrator :-D while it whirred on top of his palm, he ran his hand over my scalp, neck and shoulders. Trust me it was rejuvenating. Then he was about to move his vibrator-powered hand over my chest when I said, 'No!' I mean, hey, hell no! The strawberry-coloured oil probably had camphor in it; It felt as if a bottle of mint was poured on my head. It felt like sticking your head in the freezer.
He removed the machine from his hand and locked it up in a drawer. I checked out my hair in the mirror in front. I was looking like an electrocuted monkey. I was about to stand up when the barber stopped me. He held my head; one hand at the back of my head and the other at the chin, and came close. I thought he was going to kiss me. But thankfully no. He paused and 'listened' to my head and gave my head a twist clockwise, 'trrrrkkkkkkk' it broke. He twisted anti-clockwise, and it 'trrrrrrrrrrrrrrked' again. I felt lighter now. I felt younger. It was as if, all the rusty sensations in my head and neck were flushed out with the 'trrrrrrrrrkkkkk'. The barber stepped back, like an artist admiring his just-finished painting, smiled, and said, 'That'd be all sir.' I didn't want to get up, but I had to as lot of people were waiting. I thanked him and asked him, 'How much is the bill?' 'Forty Rupees', he said. Ah well!
Write to me: suman 'at' sumankumar 'dot' com

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